Publishers' copyright move 'could limit use of research' | News | Times Higher Education

"The warning has been made in an open letter signed by nearly 60 open access advocates, publishers, library organisations and civil society bodies. Earlier this year the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers, known as STM, which has 120 members across 21 countries, produced a set of model licences governing copyright on open access articles. The move was a response to concerns from some publishers about the widespread use of Creative Commons licences, some of which permit commercial reuse and the creation of 'derivative works'. Research Councils UK current requires the so-called CC-BY licence, which permits all reuse subject to proper attribution of the original, for all accounts of research it funds that are published via the 'gold' open access route. On August 7, an open letter was published calling on STM to withdraw its model licences. The 58 signatories include Research Libraries UK, the American Library Association, the Wikimedia Foundation and publishers Plos, eLife and BioMed Central (which is owned by STM member Springer). The letter says the STM licences 'would limit the use, reuse and exploitation of research' and would 'make it difficult, confusing or impossible to combine these research outputs with other public resources' ..."